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marking an understanding

i understood something over in Spirit Diaries about  my cloth making, about filters, personal symbols.  i understood it in terms first of the latest cloth

001f
how this division,  some kind of horizon,  rim,  of Earth and then above Sky, with the figure standing, another division, Vertical amidst Horizontal.   and  suddenly this was connected to a longstanding symbol of     ~cairns~ 

and what perfect timing.   i knew i need to create a cairn.  Solstice comes soon.  This has been a challenging year and continues so.   This cairn.  yes. 

so i began bringing stones from around and as i was picking up one from the Magdalena Mountains, as it happens,  Something said  STOP!    i looked and there,  so seemingly carelessly attached is a chrysalis.

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and what is on the figure's head…..a butterfly.

so here we have it. 

001f
it's supposed to rain tomorrow but maybe there will be time and if not, then Thursday.  It's been a long time since i've done something like this.  Such a Long Story.

 

 

 

 

 

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33 responses to “marking an understanding”

  1. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    (((sigh)))

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  2. handstories Avatar
    handstories

    oh…my… glory.

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  3. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    no sigh here yet, there is still lots to do

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  4. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    that’s what Janie would say, right?

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  5. handstories Avatar
    handstories

    very loudly, with her arms up and wide.

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  6. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    funny. i thought of her when i was piling rocks.

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  7. handstories Avatar
    handstories

    she did move rocks now & then. i have clear memories of her moving tree stumps around our classroom. she was very strong. i just thought of something, you had thought i had blonde curly hair- she did.

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  8. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    maybe you do.
    she’s hanging around tonight.

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  9. handstories Avatar
    handstories

    i only do in my mother’s dreams.
    i miss her especially this season, we usually shared holiday meals.

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  10. linda Avatar
    linda

    it seems the older we get, the longer these stories become. sometimes i get sad thinking no one knows my stories but me.. sometimes i think that’s a good thing.
    tonight i go the other way.. i wish i could just celebrate solstices instead of holidays.
    love to you this rainy night, dear friend

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  11. Elizabeth Avatar
    Elizabeth

    O grace! I read this and thought I will make a cairn for this year too – a southern summer solstice cairn. Thank you – as always I go away inspired.

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  12. saskia Avatar
    saskia

    I’m inspired! want to make a cairn as well now, where on earth (ha) will I find large stones over here??

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  13. patricia Avatar
    patricia

    dear grace. you continue to inspire me with your thoughts and deeds. can’t figure the scale on these stones–wondering if they’re as heavy as they look? take care- building cairn

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  14. ;uie Avatar
    ;uie

    Path finding is how I think of cairns, as that is the practical use, especially in Ireland and Scotland, a Gaelic road sign. When I see the beginnings of your cairn grace, I see a path that has opened for you in a way that your other fiber trails have not. Here I see an intersection of life, land and cloth, a crossing into a place that has connected so deeply. Story telling takes many forms but here, in your place, it’s as if the elements of the story, woman, land, cloth, continue to branch out, evolving into a stronger path, expanding in direction yet always maintaining connection with what is at your core.
    Wherever we have lived, one of the first things I do is to collect rocks found on the land and build a small cairn. Sometimes I stack the rocks by themselves, sometimes as is the case now, I stack them in an old lopsided basket and place by my front door. I like to think of it as my blessing of our new home -my clarifying of place by honoring the natural world first. When we leave a place, I also leave my cairn as a tribute for the time spent in each home.
    We all have our own reasons, hold our own stories from the pulse of the land. Andy Goldsworthy, the great environmental artist works with materials where they are found but this quote of his applies no matter if working from place or taking to a place:
    “When I work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just that material itself, it is an opening into the processes of life within and around it. When I leave it, these processes continue.”

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  15. Marie Avatar
    Marie

    A lovely spot to celebrate and create the beginning of “calm”.
    Perfect xo

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  16. Deb G Avatar
    Deb G

    All connected…this feels very strong and right and purposeful. 🙂

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  17. jude Avatar
    jude

    Those are big stones. they will probably stay put in a Big Wind.

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  18. Mo Crow Avatar
    Mo Crow

    thanksgiving

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  19. grace Avatar
    grace

    like a stack of stories…a story cairn?
    and yes…you are having R A I N……, here, just
    was supposed to be a thunderstorm.
    and love back….

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  20. grace Avatar
    grace

    something is up with the comment box on your blog…i
    keep trying and it doesn’t take. that’s happened with
    a couple others…but i DID love the Post about your
    new tea bowl…i love bowls so much.
    and i will watch for your cairn. it would be beautiful
    in your Ballarat.
    love,

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  21. grace Avatar
    grace

    now…that never occured to me…the lack of large stones…hmmmm. of course, here there are many. not
    native to this acre of Earth, but everywhere close by.
    And the ones i’m using i hauled from different places,
    some were given as gifts. i wish i could mail you some.

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  22. grace Avatar
    grace

    well, scale….maybe 12 to 18″ long some? others it would
    be circumferance…like maybe as heavy or just a little
    more than a cement block? they’re heavy. now they will
    be smaller and lighter tho…the top ones…

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  23. grace Avatar
    grace

    yes…your cairns…and the one now is so tender…

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  24. grace Avatar
    grace

    Marie..thank you…i am thinking of the good vibes this
    cairn is absorbing from those that look at it…and it
    will be a good place. working on that today.
    Thanks for coming and leaving words…
    love to you

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  25. grace Avatar
    grace

    love,

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  26. grace Avatar
    grace

    Yes…stay put. but Wind can touch them all around.
    am thinking to put the one with the chrysalis back down
    on the ground. it’s where i found it. maybe i should.

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  27. grace Avatar
    grace

    every day.

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  28. judy martin Avatar
    judy martin

    The idea of the vertical with the horizontal
    the figure with the big empty
    That is what I will carry away from this post.
    That and the chrysalis, safely bound into itself until it can be big opened too.

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  29. grace Avatar
    grace

    Judy…that you responded to this post says something to
    me…
    “the figure with the big empty”
    yes.
    it’s interesting how suddenly i am knowing that this is
    really, yes, my primary filter of seeing and being.
    the chrysalis is just well, just really Something. i went
    out there today to see if i really really saw it and yes
    i did. there it is. attached by this very small stem
    to the rock. i have seen some before, but always attached
    to vertical things (?!) the fence, trees. here tho it
    was/is on this rock. standing UP from this rock.
    what was happening? how can i find out what was happening?
    where can i go to ask questions? maybe nowhere. maybe
    i need to just watch it.
    again, as always when you do, Thank You. it has good and
    strong meaning to me…thank you for coming here.

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  30. yvette Avatar
    yvette

    sent love to your cairn….it will be a strong energy boost

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  31. Margo Avatar
    Margo

    Hmm…I’ve always collected rocks but don’t think I’ve ever made a cairn, at least not with the intention of doing it. I like the shape of yours already.

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  32. grace Avatar
    grace

    when i worked on it today, i said
    Yvette’s love is here
    and yes.
    it will help me stay my path.

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  33. grace Avatar
    grace

    i have marked trails all my life this way
    in different places
    and one i made of pebbles, so tiny
    and here once, a circle of stones with cairns around,
    made me think of stations of the cross.
    this one well, we’ll see. it’s important.

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